Re: array character types

Jodi,

In my experience:
It is better to normalize these arrays into separate tables - even if it
isn't "nice" to do so :-p
Array types can't be indexed, can't be foreign keys, and aren't
compatible with other systems.
Normalization is always the most efficient way of handling multiple
values under one category for a table.
Sometimes you may file the need to hit the C and write a procedure or
two that can handle creation, deletion and retrieval from these quickly.
A lot of the time though, this isn't necessary.

Regards

Gareth Kirwan
Thermeon Europe Ltd
gbjk(at)thermeoneurope(dot)com
-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org
[mailto:pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org]On Behalf Of Jodi Kanter
Sent: 31 October 2002 15:06
To: Postgres Admin List
Subject: [ADMIN] array character types

Can anyone offer some insight or link to documentation on the use of
integer and/or string array data types? We are thinking of using them in our
database but there is some concern about breaking normalization standards
and opening ourselves up to more issues later.
We are storing data about various analyses that are being run - i.e user
and system parameter values. It would be nice not to have to create a
separate table for each of these fields.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jodi Kanter

_______________________________
Jodi L Kanter
BioInformatics Database Administrator
University of Virginia
(434) 924-2846
jkanter(at)virginia(dot)edu